Memoirs of a Navy Brat

The recent Christmas Season brought back some good old memories of the 9 day novena dawn masses. We would wake up very early in the morning to attend the 4 am masses. The Navy Band would go around the Base at around 3:30 AM playing Christmas tunes, so waking up early was not really a problem with us. I remember we would really dress up well for these masses. It was not unusual to see us attend mass in formal coat

Christmas Dawn Mass

[photo by: Markiiboi]

Nowadays, we have the option to attend the novena masses at 8 PM, which I did during the recently concluded season. I guess age has finally caught up, which makes the option very convenient for the young once. lol... The puto bungbong, a local delicacy, is still very much around to greet mass goers.

I remember that incident years ago when three friends and I decided to proceed to the Luneta Park in Manila right after the dawn  mass. Just about 200 yards after passing the Kawit bridge, we were all jolted on our seats when the hood of the car we were riding suddenly flipped up covering the entire windshield. Luckily, Odie, who was at the wheels, was able to control the car and guide it slowly along the roadside. When we were able to tie the hood securely to the car, we agreed to turn back and abort our impromptu trip. We were fortunate enough to be able to return home with just a slightly damage hood.